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Vessel Gallery

December 3 - January 9, 2011

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471 25th Street Oakland, CA 94612
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Rhythmic Sequences In Her Element, 2010 oil and acrylic on canvas, 60" x 68" by Sanjay Vora
Opening December 3rd, 6:00pm - 9:00pm "This show has a multitude of layers - three artists reveal through their works a process of order and system....the viewer is left to discover the visual rhythmic sequence, losing one's self in time and within their works. Sanjay Vora's "18" paintings are dreamy and veil a distant yet not-so-distant memory. Ani Kasten's new surroundings influence her latest works revealing a new approach towards her forms and surfaces. Elisa Bongfeldt introduces new shapes and forms to her rhythmic metal creations, and adds a sparkling glint to her compositions." - Lonnie Lee, Curator "As a result of nostalgia and longing, my paintings become spiritual destinations of love and domesticity that are inevitably unattainable. Each work stands as a testament to love, history and human experience, born from a lived American life along with a cultural heritage rooted in Indian classical music. They are my identity, my faith, and a reflection of my nature, moving forward while continuously looking backwards. Resulting from a psychic archeological process, the metaphysical veil on each piece serves as a mediating function between the “then” and “now”, as the painting of the past recedes and arises reconstructed into visions of a dream-like quality of the world. The veil is a marker of time, a gritty representation of the present, and ultimately a residue, left by repeated acts of longing. The manipulative, sensual qualities of memory are evermore at play in the form of color in this latest body of work. Color in the process becomes reduced and simultaneously heightened, at times taking a seductive turn in form or its actual color. As it provokes, tantalizes and fades, stretching from the canvas underneath past the textured surface at times, the entire piece approaches a monochromatic vision of routine and uncertainty ultimately through which beauty conquers." - Sanjay Vora Sanjay Vora In his large-scale, multi-layered paintings, Sanjay Vora explores the realm of love, memory and nostalgia through a process of covering and retrieving representational, figurative scenes with layers of repetitive abstraction. His works have been shown and collected throughout the United States with exhibitions in the San Francisco Bay Area, Los Angeles, and Washington D.C. In the August/September 2009 issue of California Home and Design magazine, Sanjay’s painting, Chasing, was featured in a photo spread of a collector’s home, and his upcoming show, 18, will be his second solo exhibition this year. In 2002, he obtained a BS in Architecture from the University of Virginia and received an MFA in painting from the San Francisco Art Institute in 2005. Sanjay works and lives in Oakland, California. Ceramic Sculpture by Ani Kasten Birch Bottles Ceramic bottle series by Ani Kasten "Investigating the materiality of the clay is the foundation and focal point for all of my sculptural vessels. I create wheel-thrown and hand-built forms in families, and these sculptural groupings explore the meeting point between natural and man-made worlds. The vessels take their influence from plants, water, rocks and clay, as well as from architecture, industry and machinery. The forms integrate both of these sensibilities into a composed landscape, such as a stand of bamboo-like, truncated cylinders, perforated with small windows to look like corroded skyscrapers, or a simple, pure form such as a smooth sphere, marked on its surface with an off-center, wandering imprint, like bird tracks in the sand. The pieces are often truncated, off-center, weathered and perforated, combining natural movement and an apparent state of organic deterioration that invokes the cycle of life, death, decay. They investigate the nature of change, the compiling of memory, and a feeling of profound loss– the recognition of temporal beauty bound inextricably with grief. The pieces are like remnants, a landscape of objects that remain after some kind of significant change, grave markers, or organic matter that has survived a great fire. As creative expressions of form, movement and texture, my work is infused with a modern, minimal aesthetic while at the same time reminding one of a natural or ancient object exposed to the rigors of time. As does nature, my ceramics often incorporate repeated markings and patterns, and explore asymmetry while retaining balance, lightness, and quietude of form." - Ani Kasten Jewelry by Elisa Bongfeldt Oxidized Sterling Silver and Diamond Necklace by Elisa Bongfeldt "I recently began using diamonds as a way to add the undeniable sparkle they possess to my work. Because diamonds are so eye catching, I think one of the biggest challenges in contemporary jewelry is to allow the work to be the focus, not the stone in it.The contrast between oxidized silver and the diamonds is quite dramatic, and yet the forms of the pieces are not overshadowed by the stones. In this particular body of work, I have chosen to use diamonds that are quite small, so they are a subtle addition to the pieces; they draw you in to look closer." - Elisa Bongfeldt
Rhythmic Sequences Birch Bottles Ceramic bottle series by Ani Kasten
Rhythmic Sequences Oxidized Sterling Silver and Diamond Necklace by Elisa Bongfeldt